Background
Various constructions for squirrel cages in short-circuited rotors of asynchronous machines made of copper and/or aluminum semi-finished products have been disclosed in the prior art.
Document DE 102013005050 a1 discloses a short-circuit rotor and a method for producing a short-circuit rotor, in which at least a part of the short-circuit rings is formed by a ring segment which is formed in layers by ring segments having cutouts, through which the ends of the squirrel-cage short-circuit bars extend from the rotor lamination stack. The end faces of the webs of the short-circuit ring have at least one bevel on the outer circumference, which extends radially at least as far as the short-circuit bar ends of the squirrel-cage short-circuit bars which project from the rotor lamination stack. That is to say, in order to enable the components to be electrically and mechanically joined to one another, the freely accessible holes between adjacent ring segments extend to the extent of the squirrel cage short-circuit bars.
Document DE 102014013684 a1 relates to a short-circuit rotor for an asynchronous machine, in which a plurality of short-circuit rings with cutouts are also provided, which are mounted on the end faces on the rotor lamination stack and into which the end regions of the rotor short-circuit bars protrude. The short-circuit ring is composed of at least two metal composite ring sheets, wherein the at least two metal composite ring sheets are composed of at least one first metal ring sheet and one second metal ring sheet which is connected with the first metal ring sheet in a plane mode and is made of different materials.
This embodiment makes it possible to use different materials in the short-circuit ring, for example a copper ring segment in combination with an alloyed copper ring segment (CuCrZr or similar alloys), in order to increase the rotational speed behavior and the temperature resistance of the asynchronous machine. However, the disadvantage is that the properties of the alloyed copper and/or aluminum ring segments are altered as a result of the proposed welding process. Since the alloy is raised to the welding temperature in this way, the alloy loses its properties in particular with regard to strength and temperature stability. If thinner, easily manufactured single ring segments are used for the rotor, only a small portion of the otherwise desired properties will remain after welding of the individual ring segments of these alloys.
Document US 2014/0339950a1 relates to a stator structure with end caps that are electron beam welded. In this way it is desirable to produce improved electrical and mechanical properties while at the same time being structurally light-weighted. A single end piece having axially blind slots is described.
The disadvantage here is that the welding process acts directly on the rotor lamination stack and in the semi-open grooves of the short-circuit end plates. In this way, a very large heat input into the lamination core occurs, which can lead to insulation damage. The guidance of the liquid weld pool is very limited and easy to flow away.
Document DE 102013202557 a1 relates to a squirrel cage for short-circuit rotors and a method for producing the same. It is proposed that the short-circuit ring is composed of a connecting ring plate and a short-circuit ring plate, wherein the connecting ring plate has a plurality of notches, in which a squirrel cage short-circuit bar is arranged in each case, so that the plurality of squirrel cage short-circuit bars are mechanically fixed relative to the connecting ring plate. The short circuit ring plate directly abuts against the connecting ring plate in the axial direction. The material-bonded connection between the squirrel cage short-circuit bars and the connecting webs is realized by means of a welded connection and the material-bonded connection between the connecting webs and the short-circuit webs is realized by means of a soldered connection.
Welding therefore also takes place close to the rotor lamination stack, which can cause difficulties with regard to insulation and guidance of the weld pool. In particular, in this embodiment, only the relatively thin connecting webs are preferably welded to the short-circuit bars in the axial direction. This further increases the risk of weld pools running out, since even with small tolerances or small differences in welding parameters, weld pools can flow away into the joints between the short-circuiting bars and the laminated core or between the connecting webs and the laminated core. A large amount of heat is thus input into the rotor lamination stack. A further disadvantage is that the soldered connection of the short-circuit ring plate to the connection ring plate achieves less strength and electrical conductivity than a soldered connection. Since the short-circuit webs occupy a large part of the electrically conductive annular cross section, but a relatively large centrifugal force acts primarily on these webs.
Disclosure of Invention
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved, cost-effective and easy-to-implement production method and an improved short-circuit rotor produced in a corresponding manner.
To achieve this object, the invention proposes a method for producing a short-circuit rotor, comprising the following steps:
providing a rotor lamination stack with through-openings for shorting bars of the squirrel cage and with shorting bars,
-inserting the shorting bar into the through hole leaving axial projections on both sides,
-mounting on both sides a main ring plate with through holes for short bars having an axial length equal to the length of the protrusions and a continuous peripheral ring plate directly connected to the ends of the main ring plate and the short bars, wherein the main ring plate and the peripheral ring plate constitute the short circuit rings of the squirrel cage,
-welding at least the main ring segment and the outer ring segment by means of radially circumferential electron beam welding.
All components of the short-circuit ring (main ring plate, outer ring plate, short-circuit bar) are thus welded by means of a welding process. According to the invention, it is proposed that a main web with a cutout for the short-circuiting bar is used, which main web is combined with a continuous outer web, which therefore does not have cutouts/through-openings/grooves for the short-circuiting bar, wherein the main web and the outer web are connected by means of radial electron beam welding. In this way, the entire, ideally laminated composite structure, comprising the laminated core, the short-circuit bars and the respective short-circuit rings, can be completely joined by means of only one weld seam. The strip length of the short-circuiting strips and the pressing force of the composite structure are selected such that an axial contact is produced between each short-circuiting strip and the outer circumferential web.
In a preferred development of the invention, the short-circuit rotor is therefore pressed axially before the welding of the main segment and the outer segment in such a way that the end of the short-circuit bars rests in a bonded manner on the outer segment. To apply such an axial preload, a compression device may be used.
Thereby obtaining a number of advantages over the prior art. The distance between the weld seam and the laminated core is thus increased by the main ring segments, as compared with an embodiment using a single ring segment with axially blind slots, so that the heat input into the rotor lamination stack is reduced. The resulting weld pool is thus not able to flow away by the main ring segment pressing against the outer ring segment, because it is welded into a solid, closed geometry.
The advantage obtained in comparison with the embodiment with ring segments having only through-openings in the short-circuit rings is that only one ring segment with a cutout in each short-circuit ring has to be produced in the stamping process with the corresponding scrap. The peripheral ring segment can be produced more cost-effectively, for example as a cutting element, for example as an extruded profile. Furthermore, electron beam welding on only one circumferential weld seam reduces the process time of the costly electron beam welding. A further advantage is that the outer circumferential web forms a continuous support web without recesses for the short-circuit strips, so that the rotational speed stability can be increased effectively by means of a high-strength material. Since the particularly high-strength material of the outer disk occupies a higher proportion, this results in a higher rotational speed stability. Furthermore, when using a stronger ring material, the properties of the stronger ring material and of the material of the main ring plate and of the outer ring plate as a whole are better maintained by only one single, radial electron beam weld.
In contrast to the embodiment in which the short-circuit bars are welded to the connecting ring plates and then the short-circuit ring plates are soldered to the connecting ring plates, the advantage is obtained here that the number of working steps is greatly reduced, since according to the invention all the ring plates are stacked on top of one another in one step and then the welding is effected by means of a radially oriented, tangentially encircling electron beam by means of a single welding step. Because a welding process is used instead of a brazing process, a stronger and more conductive connection between the main ring plate and the outer ring plate is obtained. Since the welded connection does not act directly on the rotor lamination stack and is also radially oriented, the heat input into the rotor lamination stack is reduced during the welding process. All components are joined in one single step without the need for additional joining material. This provides a simple and cost-effective production method which enables a short-circuit rotor to have optimum properties with regard to the electrical conductivity of the short-circuit ring, the connection and the torsional strength.
In order to further increase the torsional resistance, an advantageous development of the invention provides that after welding a clamping ring is arranged around the ring segment pair formed by the main ring segment and the outer ring segment and clamped. Such a pressure ring may for example be made of a material based on iron, titanium, nickel or similar alloys, which improves the strength, especially if the outer ring segments and the main ring segments are not made of a high strength material, but for example two common copper and/or aluminium ring segments, not a high strength alloy such as for example CuCrZr. The use of a pressure ring thus enables the main ring segments and the outer rim ring segments to achieve the required strength through the pressure ring even if made of the same, highly conductive material.
However, it is of course also conceivable to use high-strength materials, such as CuCrZr or steel, for the main ring segments and/or in particular for the outer ring segments.
Different embodiments are likewise conceivable in terms of the thickness of the main ring segment and the outer ring segment. One solution is that the thickness (i.e. the axial extension) of the main ring segment is greater than the thickness of the outer ring segment, which has the advantage that the main ring segment forms a greater distance from the rotor lamination stack, whereby the welding has less influence on the rotor lamination stack. A thinner primary ring segment, in particular a primary ring segment that is thinner than the outer ring segment, has the advantage that the through-hole of the primary ring segment can be punched out more easily. However, a stamping is not necessary, since thicker main webs can also be produced, for example, by appropriate shearing, as a cutting element of the extruded profile. In practice it has proven advantageous to use a lower cost manufacturing method for the primary ring segments, and therefore a primary ring segment that is thinner and therefore easily stamped tends to be chosen.
In addition to the method described, the invention also relates to a short-circuit rotor, in particular produced according to the method according to the invention, having a rotor lamination stack and a cage with short-circuit bars extending through-openings in the rotor lamination stack and short-circuit rings which short-circuit the short-circuit bars axially on both sides, wherein each short-circuit ring has a main ring web with through-openings and a peripheral ring web through which the short-circuit bars protruding from the rotor lamination stack extend, in particular in a form-fitting manner, and the peripheral ring web is directly connected axially to the main ring web axially on the outside and the short-circuit bars rest in a bonded manner on the peripheral ring web, wherein the short-circuit rings are characterized in that the peripheral ring web and the main ring web are welded radially by an electron beam. Embodiments of the manufacturing method can be transferred analogously to short-circuit rotors. In particular, joining methods using seamless materials are implemented away from the rotor lamination stack, so that short-circuit rotors having significantly better properties can be produced in a simple production method.
Preferably, the outer rim ring segment and/or the main ring segment may be made of copper and/or aluminum and/or an alloy containing copper and/or aluminum. Embodiments of the manufacturing method also continue to be applicable here. In a preferred embodiment, the outer ring segments are made of a stronger material than the main ring segments, thus acting as support segments.
A particularly advantageous embodiment is that the short-circuit ring is radially surrounded by the pressure ring, in particular if the main ring disk and the outer ring disk are not made of a higher-strength alloy and/or if the main ring disk and the outer ring disk are made of the same material. This makes it possible in particular to realize the main ring segments and the outer ring segments as copper and/or aluminum ring segments, but nevertheless to achieve the required torsional strength by means of the clamping ring.
Detailed Description
Fig. 1 shows the main components of one side of a short-circuit rotor 1 according to the invention in an exploded view, the axially opposite side of the short-circuit rotor 1, not shown, being embodied in a mirror-symmetrical manner. Before the joining of the components of the short-circuit rotor illustrated here, the short-circuit rotor 1 has a rotor lamination stack 2 as is generally known from the prior art. The rotor lamination stack 2 has through-openings, into which the short-circuit bars 3 of the squirrel cage of the short-circuit rotor 1 have already been inserted. The short-circuit bars 3 project axially on both sides, in order to be able to engage in a form-locking manner in through-openings or recesses 4 of the main ring segments 5. The axial ends of the short-circuit rotor 1 are formed by outer rings 6 which have no recesses or holes for the short-circuit bars 3, with which the short-circuit bars rest in a material-bonded manner. The main ring plate 5 and the outer edge ring plate 6 form a short circuit ring 7 of the squirrel cage.
In order to produce the short-circuit rotor 1, the components shown in the exploded view are assembled axially and pressed together by means of a pressing device, so that not only the main ring segment 5 rests in a material-tight manner against the outer ring segment 6, but also the short-circuit bars 3 rest in a material-tight manner against the outer ring segment 6. After the preload thus applied by the pressing device, a radial electron beam welding for joining the main ring segment 5 to the outer ring segment 6 is carried out. Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the short-circuit rotor 1, which is respectively engaged in only one step. Here, a weld seam 8 between the main web 5 and the outer web 6 is also shown, wherein the electron beam welding also involves the connection of the short-circuiting bar 3 to the outer web 6.
This is evident in the cross-sectional view of the joined short-circuit rotor 1 in fig. 3, whereby the weld seam 8 also extends over the short-circuit bars 3.
In the embodiment shown, the main ring segment 5 is chosen thinner than the outer ring segment 6, so that the through-hole 4 of the main ring segment 5 can be punched out. The following embodiments are also conceivable: the main webs 5 are thicker than the outer web 6, so that a greater distance from the laminated core 2 is achieved during welding.
It is also optional that the pressure ring 9 shown in fig. 3 extends radially around the short circuit ring 7. The use of such a pressure ring 9 is particularly advantageous, for example, when both ring segments 5, 6 are not made of a high-strength material, but are formed, for example, of a plain copper and/or aluminum ring segment, but rather a greater torsional strength is to be provided by the embodiment of the ring segments 5, 6. The press ring 9 can be clamped after electron beam welding to the short-circuit ring 7 consisting of the main ring segment 5 and the outer edge ring segment 6.
The short-circuited rotor according to the invention can generally be used in an asynchronous machine which also has a corresponding stator. The asynchronous machine can be used particularly advantageously in motor vehicles.